Second kiln firing of the week and I think we overcooked it. Tried an oxidised firing this time, to see if we could get turquoise, green and pink glazes. Learning that the temperature inside the kiln varies greatly. Opposed to what you would expect, the front left, bottom of the kiln seems to be the hottest and the back of the top shelf the coolest. I always thought that heat rises so it would be hotter at the top, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Will have to investigate further.

The three bowls from the throwing workshop 2 weekends ago do seem to have survived, although the pink glaze was definitley over done. On a positive note, the experiment of glazing over black slip had a very pleasing effect, so I will continue to develop this.

The temperate rise was a bit slow throughout the firing, aiming for 1500 per hour and although the top temperature was 12630 and the guide cone 10 was still upright when we finished increasing the temperature, it must have bent over during the 30 minute soak.

Everything make from the black clay, max firing temp 12600, was very over fired. Imagine a roast potato that had been on max in the oven for 5 hours…… so we now know not to do that again…..no pictures of these pots…not a pretty sight!

Learning more with each attempt, still only 3 firings under our belt…… I know how it feels to be over cooked, so does the poor doggie, went for a walk near East Dean on the South Downs Way….it’s been a scorcher today, luckily we were in the woods.

Last firing tomorrow before the craft fair…..lets hope we’ve learnt enough this week to make it a good one……